Homemade Pesto

Here's a recipe I just received in my e-mail. It's from Dean & Deluca and is pretty much close to how I made my pesto. The one I have is from Alice Waters' most recent cookbook, "The Art of Simple Food".

I had forgotten to mention that you also add some grated cheese to the mixture.
Instead of pine nuts, which can be very expensive, I use walnuts, which I toast.
And for the cheese, there is no need to use 2 different kinds. You can play around with different cheeses, also. Currently, I use an Irish cheese, which I found at Costco. It's a hard cheese and is recommended for pasta dishes and even on burgers.

Make sure to dry the basil and do a rough chop, if you decide to use a mortar and pestle to make the paste. If you want to freeze the pesto, don't add the olive oil to it. You can freeze the paste without it, then after you defrost it, add the oil. Since you will heat the pesto when you cook it with pasta and olive oil, it comes out very nice. There isn't much defrosting needed, since you can cook it right away.
And make sure to add enough salt. I've made it several times, where it came out a bit bland. Once you taste fresh homemade pesto, you won't ever want to buy it from a store again.


http://www.deandeluca.com/common/email/Olive_Oil/print1.htm

Classic Pesto

Ingredients:

1 cup very firmly packed fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 teaspoons minced garlic
6 tablespoons Santa Chiara Extra Virgin Olive Oil
2 teaspoons firmly packed Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 teaspoons firmly packed pecorino Romano
Salt to taste

Directions:

1. Wash and dry the basil well. Place in the work bowl of a food processor with the pine nuts and garlic. Process quickly to make a coarse, grainy paste. With the motor running, add the olive oil over the course of five seconds. Remove pesto from work bowl (it should still be fairly grainy).

2. Place pesto in a bowl, and add the cheeses. Mix well. (If the pesto is too thick, add additional olive oil to achieve the desired consistency. There should be some oil glistening around the edges.) Season to taste with salt.